Wireless communication systems typically include wireless access systems with equipment such as wireless access nodes, along with various control and routing nodes that provide wireless access to communication services for wireless communication devices over wireless links. A typical wireless communication system includes systems to provide wireless access across a geographic region, with wireless coverage areas associated with individual wireless access nodes. The wireless access systems exchange user communications between wireless devices, service providers, and other end user devices. The user communications typically include voice calls, data exchanges, web pages, streaming media, or text messages, among other communication services.
In some examples, an online charging server, or OCS, may monitor the data connections for the wireless devices. The OCS is a system that allows communication service providers to charge their customers, in real time, based on service usage. To accomplish this task, the wireless communication must be consistently monitored to ensure that the user is permitted to use the requested amount of data. If the user is out of data, then the OCS can be used to assist in terminating the communication and prevent the device from joining the network.
Further, in some instances, a wireless communication system may include a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) that can communicate with both the OCS and packet data network gateways. The PCRF is responsible for managing the policy function for bandwidth and charging on multimedia networks. This management may include determining whether a wireless communication is allowed, throttled, redirected, or other similar actions. These actions may be based on information provided by the OCS, which dictates the amount of data that the device is currently using.